England international Alex Sanderson today revealed a burning desire to lift the Powergen Cup in his farewell season with Sale Sharks.

Domestic silverware has consistently eluded the Cheshire club, but they can end that long wait by defeating Newcastle tomorrow.

English rugby's first all-northern final since 1977 will attract a crowd of around 50,000, giving Sanderson and company the perfect opportunity to leave an indelible mark on Sale's 143-year history.

"I have the chance to go out on a high. To win something with Sale would be a dream come true," said back-row forward Sanderson, who will join Saracens next term.

"It is something I have always worked for, and it is the pinnacle of my time at the club. Hopefully, we can make the last seven or eight years worthwhile and give ourselves something tangible to hold on to.

"We have been striving to get some recognition in the Premiership for the last few years.

"Finally, this season, people tipped us to do well and we have under-achieved.

"Maybe in recent years, we over-achieved when people made us out to be underdogs. But we still haven't won anything. Yes, we got the Parker Pen Shield a couple of years ago, but that is a plate competition.

"The Powergen Cup, although it is the lesser one of the cups we all go into, guarantees qualification for the Heineken Cup and every major Premiership side takes part in it," he added.

"You have to beat the best to reach the final, and we've beaten Leicester in the run to the final, which is no mean feat away from home."

Sale's only previous English cup final experience ended in a 9-3 defeat by Leicester seven years ago.

Given the pace and invention on show in tomorrow's two back divisions - the likes of Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto, Jamie Noon and Mark Mayerhofler - then a high-scoring trend at Twickenham finals could continue.

"There are a lot of similarities between ourselves and Newcastle, not least the type of game we both try to play. It should turn out to be a good game," Sanderson added.

"You have to back yourself when it comes to final day. We are odds-on favourites at the moment, but that will only motivate Newcastle a little bit more and they might just play 10% better than they normally would.

"The forwards will be vital, as usual. There are two evenly-matched packs, and it is going to be on the day, which team comes out of its shell and plays the game they have practised.

"One of the secrets is having a game plan that works on the field, on the day. Whoever does that will do really well. There is so much to cope with, and it depends how the players react.

"It is a final down at Twickenham, but in recent years, even in televised games, we have tended to freeze a little. That is why we want to play it down a bit."

But Sale know they might never have a better chance of ending their trophy search than this weekend.